In one of the games at the FIFA World Cuo in Qatar, Peter Drury described legendary referee, Pierlugi Collina as the “godfather of referees”. This is because of what FIFA has done in their referee unit by appointing one of the best ever referees to head that unit. Having seen the success, FIFA wants that to be replicated across FAs and the NFF has gotten the memo
FIFA has directed FAs to make sure that the head of the Referees Department is a retired FIFA badged referee. Despite that directive, Nigeria is still reluctant to make changes
In England, Howard Webb who officiated the 2010 World Cup final is head of the unit. The Egyptian Football Association appointed Mark Clattenburg as head of the refereeing committee.
According to FIFA’s memo dated December 16, 2021 and directed to the NFF, FIFA explicitly talked about the composition of the body
“The Referees Committee shall be composed of a Chairman who must be a retired FIFA Referees, a deputy chairman, and the members deemed necessary to discharge its duties. Its members must not be affiliated to any clubs, leagues, or any other Football organization.”
“The Referees Committee must be an integral part of the Member Association’s structure.”
“Under no circumstances may it fall under the supervision or control of other bodies such as the leagues, unions or government.”
The head of referees in Malta is a retired referee, how much more a big football Nation like Nigeria. In Singapore, the appointment of Tong Hai, a former footballer as head of the referees unit sparked outrage after he was appointed for another term of four years. A referee with 20 years experience described it as appointing a former footballer to head a medical unit, because the referee unit is a special unit
In truth, it is an anomaly to have someone who was not a referee to head the unit. It is like pilot heading the Nigeria Medical Association or a musician heading the Nigerian Bar association instead of PMAN.
Gusau will put a good step forward by this bold step in order to reposition our referee unit and make it the darling of Africa.
The referees in Nigeria need someone who understands what it means to be a referee and who can bring reforms to many referees in Nigeria and obeying that directive from FIFA is a good start
Nigeria will not have a representative in CHAN and that is a dent on the country already and a good way to launch back is to get the appointments right. There are brilliant referees in Nigeria who need the right environment to thrive
Alhaji Inuwa is the head of the Kano football association and that is already against FIFA directive on appointment of head of the FIFA unit, because of clash of interest
Gusau should find a suitable place for Mr Ahlan in the NFF. Surely, Nigerian football needs his expertise and he must be deployed to the right place
The league can grow if the referees are independent and that concern has been raised by the club owners who want to be assured of good officiating of games devoid of interests. Remarkably, the IMC says that referees will be directly by sponsors. When the NFF properly constitutes the referee unit, they would have taken a giant leap and restore the confidence of the fans and every stakeholder.
It is time to make that quick reform, the time is now.